The Knightmare Conundrum
by pkpulakkmr
Summary: The Imperialist Holy Brittanian Empire has spread its wings far and wide. In Area 11, formerly known as Japan, resides our protagonist, robotics engineer Suzaku Kururugi. He is a man trying his best to balance his love for his Japanese roots while managing a relationship with Princess Euphemia li Brittania. Of course, things take a turn for the nightmarish very soon...


Hello, dear readers! My name is Lelouch, and I'm your patron for tonight. You all came here to listen to a good story, didn't you? Well, you came to the right place!

But before we begin, I feel obligated to tell you about the rich, wonderful history and culture of my world. A long time ago, this place used to be known as Japan, the land of the Rising Sun. Or as you may have remembered it, the land of epic-fricking-Anime! All that changed around a decade ago, when the Holy Britannian Empire initiated a hostile political takeover of our nation. It was the biggest blow to our morale since the atomic bombings of World War II, but we're a resilient people. In fact, the whole spiel with the Brittanians is water under the bridge these days. All we had to do was surrender our flag, rename ourselves District Eleven and let their little monarchy lord over us all. It isn't all that bad, since Brittania's become a constitutional monarchy sooner than anyone expected it to. But whether we're ruled by the people, or by a family, trouble always seems to find us anyway.

That is where our dear protagonist comes in. Mr Suzaku Kururugi is an Eleven's rights advocate, but his main job is working as a robotics engineer under contract of the Empire. His potentially conflicting positions have taken their toll on the poor sod, but these days he's more or less at peace with where he is. That is, until certain complications arise in his love life, thanks in no small part to the fact that he's involved with a literal Brittanian princess! And then, a torrent of sweet seduction swoops down on him, and his true loyalties are tested in ways he dearly hoped they never would be. Are you looking forward to seeing how Mr Suzaku overcomes all the blocks in his life? I sure am! So as they say, let's sit back and enjoy the ride!

* * *

"Where...where am I?" I scream.

What is this place? I can barely look at anything other than the narrow road ahead of me, and for some reason I'm stuck inside what seems to be the cockpit of one of those Knightmare Units I design for a living.

"Hello! Anybody!" I scream again.

"Holy shit! Is that an Eleven?" I hear a voice say through the comm link.

"Yeah! Yeah, it's me! I'm the Eleven!" Ordinarily, I'd resent referring to myself as an Eleven, as I find that term a little racist. But given the terrifying situation I'm in right now, tackling racism doesn't seem like a very high priority.

"So even Elevens aren't immune. Well, I don't see any harm in helping out. You know how to handle one of these things?"

"Yeah, I design them for a living, man!"

"So you must be one of those Affirmative Action hires. Well, good for you."

"But so what if I can pilot this thing? What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, you make it to the finish line without falling off the road. If you can pull that off, you wake up the next morning, safe and sound. If you fall, you die."

"D...die?!"

"Yeah, you heard me. This isn't a nightmare you just wake up from. You have to pilot the Knightmare Unit to the finish line, or else you'll die."

"You...you're kidding, right?!"

"No I'm not. If you don't believe me, feel free to try and fall off. I'm done explaining things to you."

And just like that, the guy hangs up. Holy shit, was he serious?

I think he was. He sounded pretty scared himself when he was talking to me. Oh God, what fuck is going on?

Okay, I just need to pilot this thing to the finish line. Alright, slowly one step at a time, and-WAAAH!

Is the road behind me crumbling down? Oh shit! Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit!

Alright, faster! Break into a jog. What's that, a platform? Okay, gotta climb that up. And there's a railing overhead. Gotta duck underneath that. Alright, so far so good.

Thank fuck I design these things for a living.

Wait, what are those? ROCKETS! Shit, they're heading straight for me?! Do I have any weapons, like a machine gun or missile system or-

Yes! Yes I do! FIRE!

Phew, thank goodness the rockets are gone. And is that...the finish line! Yes! YES, come on!

I made it!

But what's that? A monster? Why does it look like...

Wait, where's all this light coming from! AAAARGH, I can't see, I can't see...!

* * *

I wake up with a jolt in my apartment. Holy shit, that was a weird fucking dream I just had.

Oh no. I wet my bed! I can't even remember what the goddamn nightmare was about, but it must have been intense for me to wet my bed. I haven't pissed my bed since junior high.

Well, shit. Now I've gotta take the sheets, and my boxers to the laundromat. I can only hope that I have spares.

Well, anyway, time for me to take a shower and clean this mess up.

Thankfully, I have a day off today. Work-wise, at least. I still need to meet Euphie for our date.

It's hard for me to pay attention to her on the date though, given the way my day's started. How the hell did I-

"Hey, Suzaku!"

"Yes, Euphie!"

"What's gotten into you today?" she says, smiling again. "You seem a little off."

"Yeah, I had a bad dream, wet my bed-" I immediately clam up in shock. Did I just tell her I wet my bed?

"You what?" she says, and giggles. "That's...that's alright, Suzaku. Really, it is. It can happen to anyone."

"Shit, I did not mean to say that out loud, Euphie."

"It's alright!" she replies, and holds my hand. "Look, we're lovers aren't we? We shouldn't be trying to keep things from each other anyway."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. So, what else did you want to talk about, Euphie?"

"I'm in a weird position right now, Suzaku. On one hand, I really love you, and I want to get married to you. But since I'm a princess of the Empire and you're an Eleven, that makes our relationship a little more complicated than most."

"So we'll take it slow, Euphie." I say, smiling. "I'm really happy about the way things are right now. And once you've sorted out any problems your family may have with letting me in, I'll be happy to get married to you."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. It's just, with the way the Brittanians and Japanese treat each other, keeping their distance, making racist jokes, it gets on my nerves sometimes. And the fact that it's so difficult for people to accept that a Brittanian and an Eleven-sorry-Japanese could fall in love...I don't like it."

"I don't either, Euphie. But things are changing for the better. We'll be alright, I promise you."

"Yeah, yeah I suppose you're right, Suzaku." Euphie says, and tightens her grip on my hand.

A few hours after our date ends, I head for the "Melting Pot". It's an old bar of Japanese origin. When the Brittanians invaded, they couldn't bring themselves to destroy it because the food and drink it offered was so good. Since the bar gleefully serviced soldiers of both sides during the war, it was even awarded honorary Brittanian status after the Brittanians won and took over Japan. Which is why nowadays it stands as one of few places wherein Brittanians and Japanese can mingle together without any fear or stigma hanging over them. It is truly a melting pot.

I head over to my usual booth, wherein my good friends Shirley Fennette and Rivalz Cardemonde await me.

"So, how was your date, Suzaku?" Shirley says.

"It was alright. Euphie's bringing up the issue of marriage again, but since she's a Brittanian princess and everything...man, I just wish I wasn't bogged down by all this racial and political bullshit."

"Well I say we should be thankful Brittanians even acknowledge that they can be racist." Rivalz chimes in. "I remember the days when Emperor Charles still had absolute power. Japanese people like you were living in segregated neighborhoods."

"Don't remind me." I say, scratching my head.

"Yeah, I'd say we're better off forgetting those days. Man, us Brittanians used to be nasty." Shirley says, and chuckles.

"They still are, Shirley." Rivalz says "It's just that the racist ones aren't welcome in towns like this one anymore. I can only imagine the kind of crap Brittanians say about the Japanese in the Empire's Capitol."

"Yeah, well, at least the royal family can pretend to be nice." says another voice that doesn't belong to any of us.

"Oh, hey Nunnaly!" I say, turning to the waitress facing us.

"May I take your order?"

Nunnaly's a blind waitress who befriended me almost immediately after my first visit to this bar. It turns out my friends too had very similar stories to tell regarding how they met her. She's routinely eavesdropped/joined in on our conversations ever since.

"A blueberry mocktail for me." Shirley says.

"Cuba Libre for me." Rivalz says.

"Cuba Libre." I say as well.

"Okay...coming right up!" she says, and walks off to the bartender.

The bartender, nicknamed "The Boss" because she refuses to tell anyone her real name, is an interesting woman. An attractive lady with spiky magenta hair and a rather prominent set of breasts, she is also blind, but unlike Nunnaly she insists on covering up her eyes by wearing sunglasses indoors.

"Ah, so this is the Scooby Gang's order, isn't it?" she says with her distinctive Brittanian accent. To this day I do not know why she insists on calling my friend's circle The Scooby Gang.

Nunnaly brings back our drinks within a few minutes, when a breaking news broadcast starts playing over the TV.

"Breaking right now, live on Brittania Central, Prince Clovis La Brittania's death has just been confirmed by the royal family."

"What?" Shirley says, horrified.

"Princess Cornelia claims to have discovered Prince Clovis's body after forcibly breaking into his room." the anchor says. "She says her younger brother had been suffering from night terrors, and was having trouble sleeping properly. The Royal Coroner's preliminary report indicates that the Prince died in his sleep"

"Died in his sleep? Oh, that reminds me of something." Nunnaly says.

"Huh?" I say, turning to her.

"Have you heard of the rumor doing the rounds lately?" she says. "There's a certain type of dream where if you fall down and hit the ground before waking up, you die for real."

"Seriously?" Shirley says, her sarcasm evident. "You can die by nightmares?"

"Hey, you never know." Nunnaly replies with a smile. "But anyway, only assholes are supposed to be cursed with such nightmares, so none of you have anything to worry about!"

"Are you sure about that, Nunnaly?" Rivalz says, wryly. "We've all done terrible things at some point in our lives. By your logic, if this supposed black magician behind these supposed dreams wanted to, he could curse pretty much anybody."

"Yeah, you have a point." Nunnaly says, chuckling. "My knowledge of this legend's a little too vague. I need to do some more research!"

"Don't bother." I say with a smile, "It's all bullshit anyway. Nobody can die by a freaking dream."

"You're damn right, Suzaku! Man, today's discussion got really dark." Shirley says.

"Well, we did lose a member of the Brittanian royal family." I say. "Things are bound to get dark after something like that."

I take another sip of my Cuba Libre.

"Anyway, I'd better head for the other tables before The Boss comes after me. See you!" Nunnaly exclaims, and leaves.

"Oh yeah, I've got some work to do myself." Shirley says, and gets up. "Take care, you two!"

Five minutes later, Rivalz also departs. As usual, I'm the last one still in the bar.

"Nunnaly! Another round!"

While drinking my second mug of rum & cola, I get a text message.

 _"Hey, Suzaku._

 _I'm pretty sure you've heard it on the news already, but my brother's dead! And the worst part is that my own family decided to lock me out of the loop! In fact, I found about it on the news too. Cornelia said he'd been dead for 3 hours before they reported it to the media. And they didn't even have the decency to tell me!_

 _Okay, I know what you're going to say. Cornelia meant well, she was only trying to protect me, etc, etc. But dammit, I'm not a child anymore! I'm doing my best to try and make a difference in this screwed up world, but I can't accomplish anything if everyone's going to coddle me all the time!_

 _I know you're probably going to try and reassure me anyway, but please Suzaku. I don't want you to be a goddamn white knight of mine, or to 'protect' me from whatever's going on. I'm an adult trying my best to change Brittania for the better. I need people to accept that._

 _With love,_

 _Euphemia."_

Oh, boy. I guess I should've expected something like this. Clovis was Euphie's brother after all, though she didn't talk about him all that much. Hell, whenever she brought her family up, she was always so bitter and angry. Maybe I was too condescending whenever she opened up to me about all this. I just never liked seeing her upset, so I'd just try to reassure her, tell her to look at the bright side of things. But I probably would've been more than a little annoyed if I'd been on the receiving end of some of the things I've said said to her.

In fact, she's absolutely right. The way her family tried to keep Clovis's death from her is just unacceptable. She deserves better.

 _"I'm sorry, Euphie. Having to deal with your brother's death like this must be painful for you._

 _And you're right. Your family really has no excuse for keeping things from you like this._

 _If you need anything from me, don't hesitate to ask._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Suzaku."_

There we go. That reply should be more than enough to reassure her that I still love and respect her. But carrying on with her after her brother died like that is going to be tough.

But I'm not going to be a worthy partner for Euphie if I just run away when the going starts to get tough. No, no I'll stick by her no matter what.

Hmm, another text message.

 _"Suzaku, look, I was in a bad mood when I sent that last text._

 _I don't want you to get any wrong ideas. I love you, and I'm very happy with the way you've treated me so far._

 _And I'm glad that you're at least trying understand what I'm going through. I just don't want you to keep worrying about me so much. If I need anything from you, of course I'll let you know._

 _By the way, you're at the Melting Pot again, aren't you? Well, enjoy yourself! :)_

 _With love,_

 _Euphemia."_

I promptly type out my reply.

 _"Hahaha, yeah, guilty as charged._

 _I'll be okay, though, I'm sticking to Cuba Libres._

 _You take care of yourself, Euphie. I love you too._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Suzaku."_

Alright, it's getting a little late. But I still don't want to go home. For some reason, I'm not looking forward to going to sleep tonight.

"Yes, of course. You're most welcome here." I hear The Boss say. Hmm, the bar has a new visitor, huh?

She seems to be headed straight for me.

And boy is she gorgeous! She has an absolutely adorable face, with such pretty amber eyes, and lovely green hair. And that smile...oh, that smile...

Wait a minute, what's going on with you, Suzaku, get a hold of your-

"Excuse me," she says. "Is this seat taken?"

"Uh, no, not at all!" I say, and she promptly takes the seat across me.

"My name is Caroline Chambers, but you can call me C.C!" she says.

"Uh, nice to meet you C.C! I'm Suzaku, Suzaku Kururugi!"

I promptly extend my hand out. She smiles and shakes it.

"A pleasure to meet you, Suzaku." she says, and her eyes shine with an almost hypnotic aura. In fact, I could have sworn I saw an Eagle-like shape on her iris.

No, no, I was probably just seeing things, but...she's so beautiful. So kind. I feel so wonderful and happy just by being around her. I don't want to leave her.

"You're so beautiful, C.C." I say.

* * *

And that's all the time we have today, reader. As you can see, Suzaku's life has taken a definitive turn for the exciting. And I promise you, things are going to get even more entertaining from here on out. Be sure to check in from time to time, as I can see Suzaku's future unfold, and will tell you all about it in due time. Until then, reader, I Lelouch vi Brittania command you to take a break!


End file.
